Ranking all Dota 2 support items part two

Dota 2

15 Feb

Otomo

This list is updated to Dota 2 patch 7.35b

Hello and welcome to Stafe Esports ranking of every (well most) of the Dota 2 support items.

This is part two of our guide, if you're interested to see what items made the bottom of the list, check it out here.

The best Dota 2 support items

Fear not my friends, our guardian is here. (Credit: Valve)

Solar Crest (2700)

We're halfway through our list and Solar Crest takes its rightful place as king of the average items.

Solar provides a lot of useful stats. Four to all attributes, 200 health, 300 mana, four armor, and 25 movement speed is quite a list. You can also buy the components in whatever order you choose. They are cheap and come with helpful stats.

The best part of Solar is the active Shine ability. Solar can buff the user or an ally with seven armor, 15% movement speed, 70 attack speed, and a 400 physical damage barrier. For eight seconds, Shine makes someone very difficult to bring down with physical damage.

The extra movement and attack speed give the item a very nice offensive use as well. It's a free Bloodlust for an ally, though not as long-lasting.

Solar Crest's main problem is similar to Crimson Guard, it's not amazing early when enemies mostly deal magical damage, and it's not amazing late in the game when enemies hit for thousands of damage.

Despite its limitations, Solar Crest remains a good item thanks to its strong buildup and versatile ability. It's rarely the best support item to buy in Dota 2 but it's far from the worst.

Pipe of Insight (3725)

Pipe of Insight is often bought on tanky offlaners. (Credit: Valve)

It's odd to find Crimson Guard at the start of our list while Pipe of Insight is near the top. But frankly, Pipe is much better.

Magic Damage is more prevalent in Dota 2, particularly in the early game. Nearly all disables deal magic damage as well and Pipe goes a long way to negating it all.

The barrier from Pipe provides all nearby allies with a 450 magic shield. This Barrier is affected by magic resistance, so it takes more than 450 damage to get rid of it.

The barrier lasts for 12 seconds, which is plenty of time when sieging high ground or getting ready to jump into Roshan. You also get an Insight aura for 10% extra magic defense.

Overall no better item can help a team tank up against magic damage, and few lineup in Dota 2 lacks magic damage.

Glimmer Cape (2150)

The best (?) user of Glimmer Cape. (Credit: Valve)

The silver medal for best Dota 2 support items goes to Glimmer Cape and boy does it earn it.

Harry Potter's Cloak of Invisi- I mean Glimmer Cape is incredible. The item naturally provides 25% magic resistance to the holder, which is nice but not the reason why you buy it.

You get the Cloak for the Glimmer ability, which turns the target invisible and provides a 300 magic shield barrier and 40 movement speed.

Turning allies invisible is incredibly useful. It's used to save fleeing allies and set up ambushes on unsuspecting enemies. There is so much utility to a few seconds of invisibility, especially on a 14-second cooldown.

Forcing the enemy to buy detection is annoying enough, but allowing allies to shrug off 300 magic damage can be equally life-saving. The Glimmer Barrier is affected by magic resistance, so it's more durable than it first looks.

Ignoring the enemy's magic damage and forcing them to buy detection can be incredibly disruptive in Pubs, where players are less coordinated and nobody wants to sacrifice their gold for sentries.

All in all, Glimmer Cape is nearly always a good item to buy and you can never go wrong buying it.

Force Staff (2200)

One of Force Staff's best traits is that it upgrades into Hurricane Pike. (Credits: Valve)

Sitting at the top of the list, the best of the best, the creme de la creme, is Force Staff.

In terms of stats, you get a solid 175 health (a nice upgrade from Fluffy Hat's 125) and 10 intelligence. Since supports focus on surviving and using their spells, that's the best combination of stats you can ask for.

While the stats are nice, the active Force ability is the item's biggest selling point. Pushing enemies and allies alike for 600 range is incredibly helpful.

You can push enemies into a bad spot, and help an ally get in range to use their spells or away from danger. Force's utility is limited only by your imagination, so be creative and buy four Force Staffs for the memes.

Another selling point of Force Staff is that it builds into Hurricane Pike. While not every support can use Pike, heroes such as Enchantress and Silencer certainly don't mind the option of throwing out a few extra right clicks.

Force Staff's only "flaw" is that it does rely on allies facing the right direction to face them. This isn't a problem with Glimmer Cape. Bad use of Force could end up killing a friend instead of saving them.

That's our ranking for the Dota 2 support items. Please let us know what you think of the list and if you agree or disagree with the rankings.